“go see him-if he be married my grave is my wedding bed”
Juliet says this to the nurse when she first sees Romeo at the Capulets party. This shows her manipulating the nurse to find out about Romeo. Juliet is also quick witted and sharp, this is shown how she doesn’t let good chances get away ie. Meeting Romeo & getting married. Juliet is very determined and independent at the end of the play, but at the beginning she is very dependant on the nurse and her mother. Juliet is determined as she gets married to Romeo in a short time and knows what she wants and will try to get it (or not get it as in the case of arguing with her parents about Paris). Juliet has more control than Romeo does. She is not so easily wowed into love as he is and she also tells him to get out when her mother is coming while Romeo keeps on kissing her and basically has to be thrown of the balcony by Juliet. She is also more practical. Juliet is very brave this is shown how she has the guts to go through with the whole relationship although her whole family will be against it and going through with Friar Lawrence’s plan.
Friar Lawrence is a very holy man, who lives alone in hermits cell. He is very interested in herbs and spices, if it wasn’t for this interest then Romeo & Juliet might of not died so soon but they would of not been together. Friar Lawrence seem to have known Romeo a long time and have a almost father and son relationship with him, as he already knows about previous affairs and gives him advice:
“these violent delights have violent ends. Therefore, love moderately: long love doth so; too swift arrives as tardy as to slow
here he is giving Romeo advice to slow down and advises him not to act so quickly with love. Yet days later Friar Lawrence thinks that it is a good idea to marry the two together which I think is acting quickly as his plan could have been more thought out and prepared as he didn’t have to fake Juliet’s death so near to Romeo’s banishing which would of left more time for the message to get through and may not of ended in their lives being ended.
Friar Lawrence also has a close relationship with Juliet, she seems to have high regards for his holy nature. The nurse recognises his honesty and wisdom. The prince recognises his holiness and pardons him although he has had deep involvement in Romeo & Juliet’s lives, and decisions to be together.
Friar Lawrence plays an important part in the play. Without him Romeo & Juliet wouldn’t have married. Also Juliet wouldn’t have drunk the potion if he wasn’t there and didn’t make the plan to fake her death. I think that Friar Lawrence’s plan could of worked with more consideration and thought, he only made up the plan to get Romeo & Juliet together which would might of helped to stop the feud between the Caplets and the Montague’s.
“in one respect I’ll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn you household’s rancour into pure love.”
So I think that his intentions were good but his plan wasn’t affective as you can tell. Although his plan fails I don’t think that Romeo & Juliet would be unthankful for his attempts as they were so much in love that they would rather be dead together then apart alive.
The nurse has known Juliet since she was a baby and is regarded as part of the family to the Capulets. The nurse has a stronger relationship with Juliet’s mother and stays in the room while lady Capulet discusses marriage with her. The nurse is a very nosy person she some times puts her nose in when it is not wanted (i.e. The fights with lord & lady Capulet and Juliet). The nurse is very much about physical passion and enjoys talk about sex in conversations. She also loves to gossip, is down to earth and very pratical, this is shown as she advises Juliet to forget about Romeo after he has been banished and marry Paris.
“Romeo is dishclout to him;”
“I think that you are happy in the second match, for it excels your first: or if it did not, your first is dead: or ‘twere as good as he were”
This didn’t help Juliet’s feelings at the time as she was felling upset and very moved and didn’t want to move on yet.
The nurse also, as well as Friar Lawrence, plays a very important part in the play, she acts as a go-between. She carries Juliet’s message to Romeo, brings the rope ladder, and visits Romeo in Hermits cell where he is hiding to arrange for him to visit Juliet. I don’t think that the nurse is very much to blame as she didn’t do anything directly wrong and I don’t think can be directly blamed for their deaths.
Paris has been arranged by Juliet’s parents to marry Juliet. He is described by the nurse as rich, young and attractive with all the bits in the right place. Juliet does not want to marry Paris as she was in love with Romeo. Paris was not to blame for the deaths of Romeo & Juliet as he didn’t have much involvement in their relationship. If Paris wasn’t in the play then Juliet and her parents wouldn’t of had a big argument and there wouldn’t of been so much tension. Paris is killed at the very end of the play, which don’t think that there was any need for as he has not done wrong and didn’t really have any affect on the play. In the Baz Luhram film of Romeo & Juliet Paris isn’t killed, so I there for think that the reproducer of the play also didn’t see much point in killing Paris.
Lord and lady Capulet are very much to blame. They and the Montagues started the feud between them and they could have stopped it at any time if they wanted to. The feud between the two families meant that they had to sneak around and nobody could have know about them. This lead to the fight with Tybalt which got Romeo banished which led to Juliet pretending to kill herself and then them both dieing. So I think that the feud which was caused by the parents is the peak of why Romeo & Juliet died. Lord Capulet thinks that Juliet should do what he says, when she does otherwise then he says that he will disown her and not live in his house.
“you shall not house with me”
Lord Capulet says this in an argument with Juliet and lady Capulet. The argument is about Juliet not wanting to marry Paris. Lord Capulet does what he thinks is rite & what he thinks matters in society. Society was very different in those days the father controls all the action in the family espically over the women this would of made Juliet more vulnerable 2 Romeo. Lord Capulet is very bothered about society and the importance of hounor this is shown how he is prepared to disown his only child because she won’t marry someone who is higher in society. I think that if Lord and Lady Capulet listened to Juliet’s feelings then Romeo & Juliet would have been less likely to die but I don’t think that they were totally to blame.
I think that Romeo & Juliet were partly to blame themselves, they rushed everything; falling in love, getting married. Which may have not even happened as they may of fallen out of love as easily as they fell in love or realised that they were never in love in the first place. Also they both went behind their parents backs and purposely disobeyed them.I think that if Romeo & Juliet hadn’t acted so foolishly in love then they might of not died so early on in life.
The feud is very so much to blame, but the feud was created by the Lord & Lady Montague and Lord & Lady Montague. So again the blame falls on to the two families. The fued which was made by the two families got everyone involved from the members of the families to the relatives (Tybalt) to the friends of the families (Mercutio) to the workers (the Nurse). I think that the whole feud is very childish and stupid of the families and it caused so many problems and deaths like Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt and Mercutio’s deaths and the fact that Romeo & Juliet had to sneak around and not tell their parents and friends.
Society is very different today as it was in those days. Marriage is seen as a more practical thing than an emotional thing it is seen as a way to get the family higher up in society. The children are seen as the father’s property. He may or may not do what he likes with them. I think that society is partly to blame for the deaths of Romeo & Juliet because if things were different then Lord Capulet wouldn’t have acted the way he did & Romeo & Juliet wouldn’t have had to keep their love a secret.
There are a very lot, mainly, all of the events in the play which makes me think that is this didn’t happen would this happened this gives people the idea of fate. People may argue that their deaths were basically mapped out for them & that events were meant to happen and it was supposed to be this way. But I think that people may think this because we know from the very start that Romeo & Juliet are going to die and its all going to be a tragedy as It quotes that they are ‘star crossed’. I think that fate doesn’t have any play in the play because I don’t believe in fate and that there was just a lot of bad luck. Maybe there is such thing as fate but I think that many of us don’t want to accept it as we like to think that we are in control of our own lives.
Tybalt had a very aggressive nature and love to fight;
“what, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all montagues and thee”
This shows Tybalt starting a fight and being aggressive. His anger and refusal shows his obsession for fighting and violence. He plays a very direct part at the end of the play, where he gets Romeo banished to Verona, if didn’t seek for a fight and when asked by Romeo not to fight him and that he wants peace. He refused and carried on which got him and Mercutio dead and partly the reason why Romeo & Juliet died. Mercutio has a very playful and less serious attitude then Tybalt, this is shown how he was still trying to make a joke although he was dying. Mercutio died because he was prepared to stick up and be loyal to Romeo and Romeo returned the favour by killing Tybalt. I don’t think that Mercutio was to blame as such for their deaths but he did take some part but I don’t think that we can directly blame him. Although I think that Tybalt was very much to blame as his aggressive attitude started the fight which lead to Romeo getting banished, and I think that the feud between the two families was kept very strong when he was around and he had no intention of stopping it.
In conclusion I don’t think that I can directly blame anybody for the deaths of Romeo & Juliet but I think that the following people have a very definite part in it; Tybalt as his aggressive attitude lead to deaths and reasons for Romeo & Juliet’s suicide; Friar Lawrence as his plan was not successful; Lord, Lady Capulet and Montague as they started the feud and kept it going and a very slight but only partly on Romeo & Juliet them selves because this wouldn’t have all happened if they hadn’t fallen in love.
